ATLANTIS TOY and HOBBY is releasing oldies but goodie kits near and dear to many modelers. This is the 1/48 M-46 PATTON.

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Hadn't heard of Atlantis Models until today, when I saw this kit at Hobby Lobby. I thought it looked familiar, and looked them up on line. My wife bought me an egg crate full of vintage tank kits in various scales for $25 not too long ago, and one of them was the Aurora Centurion. Has actually been kind of fun just building, without getting wrapped around the axle about trying to make sure everything is just right on them.

I saw this in my local Hobby Lobby. When they bought the old Revell/Monogram/Aurora/Renwal molds Atlantis said they were reissuing kits that hadn't been seen in 30+ years. This one was never reissued when Monogram had the molds.

It's marginally worse than the Lindberg 1/32 one but that's in a larger scale and the lack of detail is much more apparent.

I built this back in the 1970s as an Aurora kit. Atlantis is also planning on reissuing the Aurora IS-3 later this year. That kit is infamous as being based on s handful of fuzzy photos and serving as the basis of the Lindberg 1/64, Airfix 1/76 and Roco 1/87 kits.

L-R,

I think you summed up the appeal of these old kits, the fun factor. That and the "simpler time" nostalgia. Don't get me wrong, I still buy some 'latest-greatest superkits' but I am finding more fun with older kits. I used to have an article by someone who made the Aurora Stalin as accurate as possible but the amount of scratchbuilding, filling/reshaping and all, my hat is off to him but I think about how many kits I could build for such effort on one model? I am glad these old kits are being re-released.

I have the Atlantis site bookmarked and will be following their schedule.

They have reissued the 1/500 Renwal ships, maybe one day we'll see some of the Aurora 1/600.

I too have fond memories of these kits - I bought them in the 70s as a kid in my local Rickles store! (That alone dates me...). As long as the price is right they do make fine nostalgia builds to "clear the pipes" after too many hours super-detailing the latest uberkit.

The JS III was definitely up there with the Centurion!

Simpler times when ours was a true pocket money hobby.

The kit has a retail of $19.99. Most stuff kids want cost three times that.

Twenty bucks is "pocket money" in the second decade of the 21st century. Add paint and glue and it's a full dinner at a chain restaurant or a couple of days' worth of lattes.

BTW, another announced military release is the Aurora 1/48 8 inch howitzer. This was one of more detailed and intricate of Aurora's kits and a far cry from the M46.

In case it matters the best Aurora 1/48 armor kits were the Shinto Chi-ha, M109 and Churchill III.

I just love these old kits, warts and all, and refer to them as "Nostalgia Builds" for that reason; they're easy and fun to build and a great way to spend time with my nephew who is just starting out, or my grandson when he gets to that pre-discover- girls stage. I grieve accordingly for those that haven't yet been re-released (I don't count such update-kits as Dragon's current series of "2-in1 kits). I could really get into Monogram's (?) 1/48 TBF, for example that I only vaguely remember from the 1960s.